The present invention relates to equipment storage management, and more particularly to a modular stacking rack for storing electronic equipment.
Electronic components, such as power supplies, memory units and servers, are often stored in equipment racks. One rack usually has several shelves and holds a plurality of components stacked vertically. In general, equipment racks are produced in standard sizes, such as xe2x80x9chead highxe2x80x9d racks, which are approximately six feet in height, or xe2x80x9chalf highxe2x80x9d racks, which are approximately waist high in height. Electronic components come in various sizes. For instance, the height of a component can range from xe2x80x9c1Uxe2x80x9d to several xe2x80x9cU""sxe2x80x9d, a xe2x80x9cUxe2x80x9d being a unit of measure equal to 1.75 inches. Thus, a typical six foot rack could store thirteen 3U components.
A company with several hundred components could purchase a plurality of racks, and fill those racks accordingly. Nonetheless, it is inevitable that some, if not all, of the racks will be partially empty. For instance, the combined height of a group of components may be significantly less than the height of the rack, but adding another component would exceed the space allotted, or the number of components simply does not fill the rack. Shuffling or rearranging components between racks after they have been stored is tedious and time consuming because the components would have to be shut down, disconnected from other components, moved and reconnected. The down time alone could have a significant adverse effect on the company. Thus, a company would probably avoid such measures and keep the space in the racks empty.
Rack space is wasted because the sizes of the racks are standardized and not flexible. A company has no choice but to purchase a higher number of racks then would be required if the rack size was flexible. Given the cost of each rack and the floor space that each one occupies, this wasted rack space can amount to substantial monetary expenditures, as well as, inefficient use of floor space. A costly alternative would be to have custom made racks. Nevertheless, this is not a feasible alternative because a company often adds components as it grows. In other words, the number of components at one point in time will not necessary remain the same number as the company expands or contracts.
Accordingly, a need exists for a more efficient system for storing equipment in a rack. The system should offer flexible storage capacity and should be highly reliable and cost effective. The present invention fulfills this need and provides related advantages.
A system for storing equipment in a rack is disclosed. The system comprises a U-shaped enclosure having two opposing side surfaces perpendicularly coupled to a bottom surface, and an attachment element for detachably coupling the U-shaped enclosure to at least one other U-shaped enclosure to form a plurality of configurations, such that an electronic component storage rack can be constructed incrementally.
Through the aspects of the present invention, the component storage rack""s height is flexible and will vary with the number of components stored. Thus, instead of buying a standard six foot high rack, which will necessarily remain partially empty, the user can buy modular segments of a rack and stack them according to the actual number of components stored. If floor space is limited, the user can stack the components to the ceiling if desired. In addition, because each enclosure is coupled to another, each enclosure can be relocated by decoupling it from its surrounding enclosure(s). Thus, moving a component(s) stored in an enclosure is less burdensome. The present invention is reliable, and relatively easy to implement given the current related technology.